Garry Schwenke is daring to dream of Queensland Cup glory, the part-time Warwick horseman hoping his smart mare Cuban can take the cigar in Eagle Farm’s tough two-mile turf feature on Saturday.

Iglesia four-year-old Cuban was one of the final 17 acceptors for this year’s $150,000 Listed Queensland Cup (3200m), the able but to date unremarkable galloper seeking one of the biggest upsets in the race’s 133-year history.

With the likes of Michael Moroney’s Group placegetter Tinseltown, the Robert Smerdon-trained six-year-old Persian Star and Brian Smith’s Danehill Dancer gelding Raeburn among the Queensland Cup top elects, Cuban certainly has her work cut out for her on Saturday.

Purchased by Schwenke, his wife Joann and a couple of buddies at a mixed horse sale at the Gold Coast in 2008 for just $3,000, a black-type win would be the culmination of a long-harboured pipe dream.

“We went down with some mates to look at a couple of tried horses,” Schwenke said.

“Joann just started walking and finished up outside the stall of this nice-looking black filly.

“She just kept looking at her.

“The tried horses we were keen on either were too dear or had an old injury.

“Joann kept talking about the black filly, so I decided to have a bid.

“Eventually we got her for $3,000.

“My mates from Brisbane, Dave Amedee and Jason Barr, wanted a share.

“They are in on the cup dream.”

The mare remains a maiden after 19 career starts to date and the Queensland Cup will be Cuban’s metro debut, but Schwenke has timed Cuban’s preparation down to the wire to have her ready to peak on Saturday.

“She’s a good type of black mare,” Schwenke said.

“She looks like Cathy Freeman but runs like Oprah.”

While other Queensland Cup hopefuls come into the race on the back of black-type runs and placings, Cuban ran fifth in a Maiden 2150m race at Ipswich on June 24.

But with Schwenke taking a page right out of the legendary Bart Cummings’ book, the Cups King always running his Melbourne Cup starters on Derby Day three days before the world’s richest handicap, Cuban had a final preparatory run at Doomben today.

Lining up in the $13,000 Www.BRC.Com.Au Maiden Handicap (2240m), Cuban ran a respectable fourth behind winner Clear Passage.

So, she still has no wins to her name and has never seen the bright lights of the Brisbane city track at Eagle Farm; for Schwenke to believe Cuban can become the Queensland Cup winner is more than just an audacious aim.

“I know it’s a ridiculous dream,” Schwenke said, the Warwick RSL general manager standing to gain $96,000 with the first prize Queensland Cup money, millions compared to the $3,600 Cuban has earned to date.

Due to be ridden by apprentice hoop Timothy Bell for the first time, Cuban has drawn well in the Queensland Cup field and is set to start from barrier six as one of the 53kg lightweights in the race.

As a low-key maiden, the handicap conditions of the Queensland Cup work in Cuban’s favour.

She had never carried such a lightweight in a race before her run at Doomben today, which was also her first time racing at 2240 metres.

It’s a different story in her trackwork.

With Schwenke aboard each morning, the hands-on hobby trainer gives her 100 kilos to carry making her Queensland Cup weight a dream.

It is a massive ask of Cuban to now step up to the traditional Cup distance of 3200 metres on Saturday, but Schwenke has a hunch she is a stayer, with nothing but instinct to back the claims.

“In the sprint race, she can’t keep up,” he explained.

“Her strength is just to keep running.

“I think she will run the 3200m and some of the others won’t.”

2011 Queensland Cup Final Field & Barriers

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Hcp. Rating
1	138807F263	TINSELTOWN (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Chad Ormsby	7	58kg	100
2	3X90926587	PERSIAN STAR	Robert Smerdon	Chris Munce	1	54kg	95
3	11X7706754	RAEBURN	Brian Smith	Scott Galloway	10	53kg	88
4	733X042108	SMOKING CHIMNEYS (NZ)	David Haworth	Jason Taylor	4	53kg	86
5	26X3532204	BEARTRACKER (NZ)	Bradley Herne	Kanichiro Fujii	2	53kg	79.5
6	2711564689	MISS MARTIKA (NZ)	Wayne Walters	Ms Melissa Walters (a)	5	53kg	72
7	1790X89200	JEDI STARFIGHTER	Trevor Thomas	Nathan Thomas	12	53kg	71
8	5502421280	MALING	David Lawlor	Anthony Erhart	13	53kg	70
9	X721410565	BUNDEEBEAR	Aiden & Kane St Vincent	Anthony Pattillo	3	53kg	68
10	0048097000	MAJESTIC SIGHT	David Scanes	Ashley Butler (a)	8	53kg	68
11	229X254231	PREACHER BOY	Roger Milne	Jason Holder	16	53kg	68
12	747X054281	SANCY DIAMOND	Peter Hulbert	Andrew Spinks	15	53kg	62
13	X500X00645	ZAMAN (NZ)	Robert Heathcote	Kelvin Wharton	14	53kg	62
14	2461328526	FAMOUS FORTUNE	Lyn Paton	Cyril Small	9	53kg	61
15	X085561865	ZADANE	Bruce W Hill	Paul Hammersley	17	53kg	56
16	60X7082543	BAGGS IT	David Scanes	Joe Bowditch	11	53kg	–
17	959X079435	CUBAN	Garry Schwenke	Timothy Bell (a)	6	53kg	–